Todd Hazelwood topped the Additional Drivers Practice at Ipswich.
TODD Hazelwood opened his maiden weekend in the Supercars Championship in the best possible way — but not in his own car.
The South Australian racer headed the Additional Drivers Practice session at the Coates Hire Ipswich Supersprint aboard Brad Jones Racing’s No. 21 Commodore that he will share with Tim Blanchard at this year’s Pirtek Enduro Cup.
Hazelwood set the pace with a 1m09.7530s, half a second faster than Steven Richards aboard Craig Lowndes’ No. 888 Holden and well over a second faster than the best time set in the same session last year — even more impressive given it’s Hazelwood’s first dry-weather laps in the car.
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RESULTS: Click here for full results from Additional Drivers Practice
“It was great fun out there, the BJR CoolDrive Commodore was on rails!” Hazelwood said. “Obviously I’ve done quite a few laps around this circuit but the first time in the BJR chassis. Quite different to what I’m used to but very enjoyable.”
Hazelwood will now switch to his regular No. 35 Matt Stone Racing Holden for the rest of the weekend as he makes his main series debut as a wildcard.
“Change of clothing for this afternoon!” he joked.
“Very special day for me, can’t wait to get out there for Practice 1. I’m very excited, just trying to control it at the moment. Good start to the day.”
Hazelwood heading out aboard Blanchard’s car.Source:Supplied
Fellow wildcard Shae Davies was third fastest aboard the No. 26 Matt White Motorsport Nissan Altima, with Luke Youlden next in David Reynolds’ No. 9 Erebus Motorsport Holden.
The session was an opportunity for teams to run either Enduro Cup co-drivers or to give Super2 drivers laps aboard main game machinery, with Bryce Fullwood and Matt Chahda given temporary CAMS Superlicences to take part in the session. The former ended up 10th in Todd Kelly’s No. 7 Nissan, while the latter finished 25th in the No. 3 Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport car.
Shell V-Power Racing Team’s Tony D’Alberto had a busy session, finishing both eighth and 13th after spending time in both Fabian Coulthard and Scott McLaughlin’s cars. The team elected not to bring Alex Premat halfway around the world for a half-hour session.
Red Bull Holden Racing Team made a similar decision, the No. 88 and No. 97 cars remaining garaged with neither Paul Dumbrell nor Matt Campbell on hand.
The session was largely trouble-free, although the No. 8 Brad Jones Racing Commodore failed to make it out of pit lane, engine dramas preventing Macauley Jones from turning a lap in Nick Percat’s Dunlop-liveried car.
The bumper field of 30 cars will head out on track for the next two practice sessions of the day.
Originally published as Wildcard on top in opening Ipswich practice
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